Official Site: http://newsupermariobros2.nintendo.com/
Source: Youtube Channel Nintendo
Developer: Nintendo
Publisher: Nintendo
Platforms: Nintendo 3DS
Release Date: August 19, 2012
Genre: Platformer
Pros:
-Back to the basics and still a lot of fun
-The 3D is really cool for the 2D Mario game
-Addictive focus on collecting coins
Cons:
-This Mario game makes you really greedy (leading to falling into bottomless pits)
-Significantly easier than past Mario games, even its predecessor New SMB1
-The game is pretty short
I wasn't too keen on buying this game outright as I knew I'd be able to finish it fairly quickly. But I had bought a 3DS XL and had no games on hand and New Super Mario Bros. 2 seemed like the best bet to start off with. It's a Super Mario Bros. game, so it's pretty obvious what to expect when one is familiar with the series. The game is a lot of fun, there's tons of secrets hidden throughout the game, and this time around you can play 2-player co-op through the whole game. One of the major differences in this iteration of Super Mario Bros. is that there is an extreme focus on coin collecting. The game records an overall collection of coins and is shared universally through Nintendo's data servers and shows up on the official website of how many coins have been collected by players in total. The game is a lot easier than the first New SMB and is fairly short, but it still provides plenty of entertainment finding secrets, rushing through levels, and furiously collecting coins. This is one game that could be fun for most gamers of any age or skill level and a definite must for Mario fans.
Aesthetics
The graphic style and quality is essentially the same as the first New Super Mario Bros. 1 released on the DS and is possibly run on the same engine. The biggest pull that differentiates this one from its predecessor in terms of graphics is the ability to display images in 3D. The objects don't really jump out of the screen like most people imagine 3D images to do, but it does provide a different form for players to look at and play on. It definitely accentuates certain objects in the game that are either important, dangerous, or useful while playing. In terms of audio, I don't think anything has changed at all. The music is the same main theme used in the first one with a lot of variations throughout the game and the sound effects are a direct port with some additional new ones. We don't need to discuss story as most gamers already know and accept that story isn't important in a Super Mario Bros. game. It was still kind of aggravating seeing Mario and Luigi waving off good-bye to Princess Peach only to see her captured once again. You'd think that they'd have more guards around her considering her history of getting kidnapped. So despite having a lot of the same assets and materials used in the first game in the second one, they were still able to keep the game fresh, lively, while making the game mechanics work along side the aesthetics. Aesthetics: 10/10
Buttons
One of the aspects of Super Mario Bros. games I've always loved in the platforming genre is how incredible the controls are. Although the game only utilizes 2 buttons, the developers make creative uses of them through level design and character ability. In the newer Super Mario Bros. games, new abilities have been added alongside new power-ups. Super Mario Bros. have always been a lot of fun with just running, jumping and abilities from the power-ups to fly and throw fire; however, the ability to wall kick jump, triple leap jump and smash down adds in all sorts of different puzzles and challenges for the player to encounter and overcome. Players who've played through the original Super Mario Bros. 3 game will feel pretty comfortable with the power-ups while those who've played New Super Mario Bros. 1 will know the exact controls and abilities as nothing as changed. What really makes these abilities shine is actually the level designs, but the controls themselves are really tight which should be true for any platformer. The controls for Super Mario is the best in its genre and this game proves that it still hold true. Buttons: 10/10
Concept & Content
So the goal of the game is still the same since its first in the series: Run right to reach to the goal without dying. Throughout each iteration, little things in-between the start and the goal has changed. Much like its predecessors, there are power-ups to help the player out, hazards to watch out for, and secrets/rewards to find and collect. There is a huge emphasis on collecting coins and there are tons of ways of collecting coins with the new gold block head, golden power flower, P buttons and such to bring out a ton of coins. With this in mind, players also have to fight off greed as a lot of special coins and coin collection events can lead to falling into pits, lava, enemies, and other hazards. Still, dying isn't much of an issue as the player will collect hundreds of lives along the way. I honestly don't know why there is a "lives" system in this iteration. They should've just allowed infinite lives while having a counter of how many times a player died and in what form (enemy, bottomless pit, time over) instead. The boss battles is reminiscent of Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario World as Bowser's children return. The game overall felt really easy which made me question why it was so fun. I guess it felt easy because I didn't have to worry about a Game Over for all the lives I gained and it was still fun because there were still challenges throughout the entire game that rewards the player little by little. Besides the main worlds, there are the alternative worlds and a special world. When you complete a world, levels from that world are unlocked in Coin Rush. Coin Rush is a special mode where the player has to collect as many coins as possible without dying in a short amount of time through three randomly selected levels. Coin Rush is the main mode to keep the replay value of this game high. The player can also play co-op campaign with another 3DS owner with their own cartridge simultaneously, much like the Wii version of Super Mario Bros. I'm a bit disappointed that the 2-player competitive mode from the first New SMB didn't make a return with even more levels as it was an incredibly fun mode. Just recently, Nintendo has announced 3 DLC packs that adds more challenges in Coin Rush mode (3 extra levels each from what I understand). It bothers me knowing that even Super Mario Bros. has DLCs now, but the game provides the full package with the DLCs being additional replay value. The DLCs are $2.49 each and can be bought through the eShop. The game stayed true to the classic Mario games with its own twists, though it'd be nice to see some additional modes or the return of competitive multiplayer requiring only 1 cartridge to further extend the replayed value for a launch cost of $40 for the game. Concept and Content: 9/10
Duration
Even though the main game was somewhat short, I was pretty satisfied when I completed everything (other than grabbing all the special coins). The pacing was fairly quick and I never got bored in-between. There were parts in the game where I kept dying because I kept getting greedy and I realized if you die 5 times or more, you get the special invincibility leaf. It's pretty much telling you "you're sucking too hard, take this." I've played roughly 10 hours of the game rushing to the very end, then replaying the levels to grab the special coins, unlocking the alternate worlds, and completing the secret world. I suppose Coin Rush could provide some replay value for me, but I'm practically done with the game and don't really plan to play it all too often anytime soon. Duration: 9/10
Fun
I immediately fell back in love with Super Mario Bros. when I started up the game and felt all the tingling sensations back in my thumbs as I breezed through the game. The game is significantly easier than the first one, but I really didn't mind. I laughed at how much lives I accumulated throughout my first play through rushing to the end of the game in which I ended up with 256 lives. The focus on coin collecting was a bit distracting at first, but I eventually got used to it and either embraced it in certain levels or completely ignored it if it was causing me to die one too many times from being greedy. I felt pretty good after completing the game in its entirety (though I didn't 100% on the special coins), but did feel a bit bad about spending $40 on 10 hours of playing. All in all, it was a really enjoyable Mario game and a big sigh of relief knowing that I can still enjoy platformers. Fun: 10/10
Overall
$40 is a bit pricey for the amount of time I spent on the game, but the quality is definitely there. I would probably still buy the game if I had to choose all over again whether to get the game as my first 3DS game or not. It doesn't try too hard to be different or ground-breaking while still being able to deliver a different experience that players have had in the previous Mario games. Any fan of platforming and definitely fans of Mario should play through New Super Mario Bros. 2 at one point. Whether the $40 is worth it depends on whether an individual is okay with the one playthrough or if they can make the purchase worth it through excessive play of coin rush (I know some people out there are doing it if we have over 165 billion coins collected in total). Overall: 9.6/10
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